predator
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I have a confession to make. I haven't killed a mule deer since 2000. I haven't killed a mule deer with my smokepole for probably 16 years. While I did scout out a positive bruiser, I've been having an achilles problem and couldn't really risk a rupture going after him in the hellhole in which he lives, so I made a decision. All those neat little places I drive by hither and yon that I've always wondered about I would explore. Boy, did I find some really nice mulie country! And deer, too, a few forkies and lots of does. All looking nice and fat. I really enjoyed exploring new ground.
High, low, I went all over the place. Leaves are really starting to pop off!
Last night, I again picked an area I had always wondered about, and not even hiked. I crept along a mountain bike trail, with the wind in my face. To my right I saw an interesting little drainage with high rock faces and HUGE sagebrush meadow. So I eased up into it and found a nice boulder (okay, it was the size of a house, really) to cozy up to.
To my left was a saddle coming out of a larger drainage, in front of me really heavy scrub oak, just the perfect place to bed in shade while the 80 degree afternoon wore out.
To my right a second saddle, with a very obvious game trail right through the middle. I did some ranging around and found it all within reach, right across the meadows.
The sunlight began to wane, and once full shade hit this little piece of muley heaven, deer started showing up. Does mostly, a small forky. It was just about 730 pm when I looked again to my left and saw a large-bodied deer. Not only that, it was obviously a buck with naked eye. He had been bedded against the cliff toe the whole time and had just stood up, I guessed.
I pulled up my binos and saw that it was a really good-looking buck! I ranged him at 178 yards, and got a little nervous. I don't have optics, and have felt comfortable out to about 125 in the past. But holy cow, I have a virtual bench rest with this rock, and could even prone out. I KNOW that this load can do it, and I KNOW I can make this shot. Despite this knowledge- I was shaking so bad I could hardly move. Buck fever like you would not believe.
So I prone out, tuck the barrel into the V of the rock that seems to have been placed there just for me, put the front sight on the buck's back and touch off.
Poof! After the smoke clears, no deer! WTH!! I look frantically around and start to think I imagined everything. Then I look again really really close and see a tine thrashing around. OH MY GOSH, I DID IT!!
I ran over to see no ground shrinkage. Not very wide, won't score at all, but man, he is a nice dang buck. I really had to grunt and groan to get him down into the flat to dress. Buckbunger and Eaglebeak volunteered to come help when I called them with the good news, and after a lot of headlamp enjoyment with blood and guts, we got him back to the truck at midnight.
The Badlands 2800 rocked! Two quarters and the head, all in one trip.
He may not be a Monster Muley, but I'm damn proud, and have to wonder if it was not meant to be given the way it all played out. Sometime we all get hung up on score, but this was a great reminder of why I love hunting.
Pred
High, low, I went all over the place. Leaves are really starting to pop off!
Last night, I again picked an area I had always wondered about, and not even hiked. I crept along a mountain bike trail, with the wind in my face. To my right I saw an interesting little drainage with high rock faces and HUGE sagebrush meadow. So I eased up into it and found a nice boulder (okay, it was the size of a house, really) to cozy up to.
To my left was a saddle coming out of a larger drainage, in front of me really heavy scrub oak, just the perfect place to bed in shade while the 80 degree afternoon wore out.
To my right a second saddle, with a very obvious game trail right through the middle. I did some ranging around and found it all within reach, right across the meadows.
The sunlight began to wane, and once full shade hit this little piece of muley heaven, deer started showing up. Does mostly, a small forky. It was just about 730 pm when I looked again to my left and saw a large-bodied deer. Not only that, it was obviously a buck with naked eye. He had been bedded against the cliff toe the whole time and had just stood up, I guessed.
I pulled up my binos and saw that it was a really good-looking buck! I ranged him at 178 yards, and got a little nervous. I don't have optics, and have felt comfortable out to about 125 in the past. But holy cow, I have a virtual bench rest with this rock, and could even prone out. I KNOW that this load can do it, and I KNOW I can make this shot. Despite this knowledge- I was shaking so bad I could hardly move. Buck fever like you would not believe.
So I prone out, tuck the barrel into the V of the rock that seems to have been placed there just for me, put the front sight on the buck's back and touch off.
Poof! After the smoke clears, no deer! WTH!! I look frantically around and start to think I imagined everything. Then I look again really really close and see a tine thrashing around. OH MY GOSH, I DID IT!!
I ran over to see no ground shrinkage. Not very wide, won't score at all, but man, he is a nice dang buck. I really had to grunt and groan to get him down into the flat to dress. Buckbunger and Eaglebeak volunteered to come help when I called them with the good news, and after a lot of headlamp enjoyment with blood and guts, we got him back to the truck at midnight.
The Badlands 2800 rocked! Two quarters and the head, all in one trip.
He may not be a Monster Muley, but I'm damn proud, and have to wonder if it was not meant to be given the way it all played out. Sometime we all get hung up on score, but this was a great reminder of why I love hunting.
Pred